I've always been somewhat surprised that we allow multi-use packages here in restaurants. How easy would it be for someone to contaminate a ketchup bottle, for example, if they were so inclined?

I'm also always suspicious of things like salsa in a Mexican restaurant. I've watched at more than one restaurant where unused sauce from the tables is returned to the master container to be reserved to the next unsuspecting customer - double dips and all.

It seems this particular ban has little, if anything to do with food safety or nutrition, and rather is simply to benefit large producers.

That is why as a consumer you should always render such products unusable after your meal. I always dump anything left onto the plate so it can't be recycled. Butter is the worst offender in my experience, so I always smear the remaining portion onto the plate.

Refilling ketchup bottles is not best practice and I solve that by scratching the label, just as bars must do with liquor bottles in Texas.

I've always been somewhat surprised that we allow multi-use packages here in restaurants. How easy would it be for someone to contaminate a ketchup bottle, for example, if they were so inclined?

I'm also always suspicious of things like salsa in a Mexican restaurant. I've watched at more than one restaurant where unused sauce from the tables is returned to the master container to be reserved to the next unsuspecting customer - double dips and all.

So let's come up with a list of all the different ways for a restaurant to do us harm and ban them all. Whenever you eat out, aren't you placing a great deal of trust the eatery will feed you right? Can you really legislate and enforce any of this, even in areas with stringent sanitary codes?

In my many years of eating out (here and abroad), I can count on one hand the number of times I contracted a food borne illness. There is no way to know for sure, but my guess the main culprit is improperly stored or expired ingredients, not cross-contamination from another patron.

So let's come up with a list of all the different ways for a restaurant to do us harm and ban them all. Whenever you eat out, aren't you placing a great deal of trust the eatery will feed you right? Can you really legislate and enforce any of this, even in areas with stringent sanitary codes?

In my many years of eating out (here and abroad), I can count on one hand the number of times I contracted a food borne illness. There is no way to know for sure, but my guess the main culprit is improperly stored or expired ingredients, not cross-contamination from another patron.

Please don't misunderstand me; I think restaurants generally do a good job with food safety, and I think our food sanitation regulations are generally sufficient. That isn't where my comment was directed. My comment was simply expressing surprise that we don't already have more legislation in this respect. Though I think I would probably support, in this day and age, banning multi-use packages that can be easily tampered with by the customer. A remekin of ketchup that is washed after each use, no. A full-size bottle this is reused without a second thought, yes. Maybe if it had a one-way valve, it would be OK. If you bought a bottle of ketchup at the grocery store and when you got home you noticed that it had been opened and some removed (or even just simply opened for that matter), would you still use it? I wouldn't. So why are we so quick to use the bottle at a restaurant? We know nothing about it - and likely a lot more people have handled it than the one we got from the store.

What if some nut case decides to go to a bunch of restaurants and drop cyanide in the ketchup bottles? If this ever happens, you will never see another multi-use ketchup bottle on a table again. If it happens will we ask why we didn't think about it before it happened?

What if some nut case decides to go to a bunch of restaurants and drop cyanide in the ketchup bottles? If this ever happens, you will never see another multi-use ketchup bottle on a table again. If it happens will we ask why we didn't think about it before it happened?

I will cede your point on the ketchup, especially since once I was pouring ketchup out of bottle onto a burger and out came a cigarette butt! Eeeewwww.

But what comes to my mind when discussing this topic are deliberate acts by disgruntled employees. I have been told it is common knowledge among food service employees that a few drops of Visine into food can cause immediate and severe diarrhea. According to Snopes, Visine's action is far more severe:

What if some nut case decides to go to a bunch of restaurants and drop cyanide in the ketchup bottles? If this ever happens, you will never see another multi-use ketchup bottle on a table again. If it happens will we ask why we didn't think about it before it happened?

What if some nut case decides to go to a bunch of restaurants and drop cyanide in the ketchup bottles? If this ever happens, you will never see another multi-use ketchup bottle on a table again. If it happens will we ask why we didn't think about it before it happened?

Never ever crossed my mind, but you are actually right . By the way how it's served ketchup(olive oil etc.) in expensive restaurants?

I will cede your point on the ketchup, especially since once I was pouring ketchup out of bottle onto a burger and out came a cigarette butt! Eeeewwww.

But what comes to my mind when discussing this topic are deliberate acts by disgruntled employees. I have been told it is common knowledge among food service employees that a few drops of Visine into food can cause immediate and severe diarrhea. According to Snopes, Visine's action is far more severe:

By the way how it's served ketchup(olive oil etc.) in expensive restaurants?

Heinz makes single serve glass bottles that look like miniature ketchup bottles; this is what you often see in hotel room service. I would say by far the most common way in high end restaurants is just a small ramekin filled with ketchup.

Heinz makes single serve glass bottles that look like miniature ketchup bottles; this is what you often see in hotel room service. I would say by far the most common way in high end restaurants is just a small ramekin filled with ketchup.

You're right , I do remember these small glasses! I guess in expensive restaurant they making their own ketchup/mayonnaise so we don't have to be worrier about potential contamination (since person that has access to the kitchen can contaminate anything...)